Upper Midwest Digs Out After Storm Cuts Off Power, Closes 3 Airports

The upper Midwest was digging out Friday from a fierce storm with high winds that dumped as much as 15 inches of snow, blacked out at least 138,000 power customers, blew roofs off buildings and closed three major airports.

Four people died of heart attacks while shoveling snow from the storm, authorities said, three in Wisconsin and one in Illinois.

Lightning injured 12 people in Illinois, and snow made driving treacherous from Iowa to Ohio.

“This is the rural mailman’s worst nightmare,” said Tanis Lehmann, postmaster in Cedar, Mich. “I worry like a mother hen until my carriers come back.”

More than a foot of snow fell in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Utilities reported at least 84,000 customers lost power in Michigan, 44,000 in Wisconsin and 10,000 in Illinois. In most cases, power was back on Friday.

Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, which got nearly 10 inches of snow, was closed for 13 hours Thursday because of drifting snow and poor visibility.

Airports in St. Louis and Detroit closed for shorter periods of time, while O’Hare and Midway airports in Chicago remained open but had at least half their flights canceled.

Eleven people were struck by lightning in a factory parking lot in Crystal Lake, Ill., 35 miles northwest of Chicago, and a 12th person was struck in nearby Palatine. None were seriously injured.

“I feel lucky to be alive,” said Apolonio Pena, 37, one of the Precision Twist Drill Co. workers struck by lightning as they were trying to help push cars out of 6 inches of new snow. The bolt hit a telephone pole next to the plant and traveled through the snow.

“There was a big, loud boom and then a flash,” Pena said. “I felt like I had been knocked down, but I was really standing up. It was really strange. Sparks came out of my fingers.”